As of 2017, the bank is one of the largest asset management companies in the world with US$2.789 trillion in assets under management and US$30 trillion in assets under custody.[7] At US$47.7 billion in assets under management, the hedge fund unit of JPMorgan Chase is the fourth largest hedge fund in the United States.[8]

According to page 115 of An Empire of Wealth by John Steele Gordon, the origin of this strand of JPMorgan Chase's history runs as follows:

At the turn of the nineteenth century, obtaining a bank charter required an act of the state legislature. This of course injected a powerful element of politics into the process and invited what today would be called corruption but then was regarded as business as usual. Hamilton's political enemy—and eventual murderer—Aaron Burr was able to create a bank by sneaking a clause into a charter for a company, called the Manhattan Company, to provide clean water to New York City. The innocuous-looking clause allowed the company to invest surplus capital in any lawful enterprise. Within six months of the company's creation, and long before it had laid a single section of water pipe, the company opened a bank, the Bank of the Manhattan Company. Still in existence, it is today J. P. Morgan Chase, the largest bank in the United States.

Led by David Rockefeller during the 1970s and 1980s, Chase Manhattan emerged as one of the largest and most prestigious banking concerns, with leadership positions in syndicated lending, treasury and securities services, credit cards, mortgages, and retail financial services. Weakened by the real estate collapse in the early 1990s, it was acquired by Chemical Bank in 1996, retaining the Chase name. Before its merger with J.P. Morgan & Co., the new Chase expanded the investment and asset management groups through two acquisitions. In 1999, it acquired San Francisco-based Hambrecht & Quist for $1.35 billion. In April 2000, UK-based Robert Fleming & Co. was purchased by the new Chase Manhattan Bank for $7.7 billion.

In 1996, Chemical Bank acquired Chase Manhattan. Although Chemical was the nominal survivor, it took the better-known Chase name. To this day, JPMorgan Chase retains Chemical's pre-1996 stock price history, as well as Chemical's former headquarters at 270 Park Avenue.

Built in 1914, 23 Wall Street was known as the "House of Morgan", and for decades the bank's headquarters was the most important address in American finance. At noon, on September 16, 1920, a terrorist bomb exploded in front of the bank, injuring 400 and killing 38. Shortly before the bomb went off, a warning note was placed in a mailbox at the corner of Cedar Street and Broadway. The warning read: "Remember we will not tolerate any longer. Free the political prisoners or it will be sure death for all of you. American Anarchists Fighters." While there are many hypotheses regarding who was behind the bombing and why they did it, after 20 years of investigation the FBI rendered the case inactive without ever finding the perpetrators.

In August 1914, Henry P. Davison, a Morgan partner, traveled to the UK and made a deal with the Bank of England to make J.P. Morgan & Co. the monopoly underwriter of war bonds for the UK and France. The Bank of England became a "fiscal agent" of J.P. Morgan & Co., and vice versa. The company also invested in the suppliers of war equipment to Britain and France. Thus, the company profited from the financing and purchasing activities of the two European governments.

In the 1930s, all of J.P. Morgan & Co. along with all integrated banking businesses in the United States, was required by the provisions of the Glass–Steagall Act to separate its investment banking from its commercial banking operations. J.P. Morgan & Co. chose to operate as a commercial bank, because at the time commercial lending was perceived as more profitable and prestigious. Additionally, many within J.P. Morgan believed that a change in political climate would eventually allow the company to resume its securities businesses but it would be nearly impossible to reconstitute the bank if it were disassembled.

In 1935, after being barred from securities business for over a year, the heads of J.P. Morgan spun off its investment-banking operations. Led by J.P. Morgan partners, Henry S. Morgan (son of Jack Morgan and grandson of J. Pierpont Morgan) and Harold Stanley, Morgan Stanley was founded on September 16, 1935, with $6.6 million of nonvoting preferred stock from J.P. Morgan partners. In order to bolster its position, in 1959, J.P. Morgan merged with the Guaranty Trust Company of New York to form the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company. The bank would continue to operate as Morgan Guaranty Trust until the 1980s, before beginning to migrate back toward the use of the J.P. Morgan brand. In 1984, the group finally purchased the Purdue National Corporation of Lafayette Indiana, uniting a history between the two figures of Salmon Portland Chase and John Purdue. In 1988, the company once again began operating exclusively as J.P. Morgan & Co.

In 2004, JPMorgan Chase merged with Chicago-based Bank One Corp., bringing on board current Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon as president and COO and designating him as CEO William B. Harrison, Jr.'s successor. Dimon's pay was pegged at 90% of Harrison's. Dimon quickly made his influence felt by embarking on a cost-cutting strategy, and replaced former JPMorgan Chase executives in key positions with Bank One executives—many of whom were with Dimon at Citigroup. Dimon became CEO in January 2006 and Chairman in December 2006.

Bank One Corporation was formed upon the 1998 merger between Bank One of Columbus, Ohio and First Chicago NBD. These two large banking companies had themselves been created through the merger of many banks. This merger was largely considered a failure until Dimon—recently ousted as President of Citigroup—took over and reformed the new firm's practices—especially its disastrous technology mishmash inherited from the many mergers prior to this one. Dimon effected changes more than sufficient to make Bank One Corporation a viable merger partner for JPMorgan Chase.

The First Chicago Bank logo

Bank One Corporation traced its roots to First Bancgroup of Ohio, founded as a holding company for City National Bank of Columbus, Ohio and several other banks in that state, all of which were renamed "Bank One" when the holding company was renamed Banc One Corporation. With the beginning of interstate banking they spread into other states, always renaming acquired banks "Bank One", though for a long time they resisted combining them into one bank. After the First Chicago NBD merger, adverse financial results led to the departure of CEO John B. McCoy, whose father and grandfather had headed Banc One and predecessors. Dimon was brought in to head the company. JPMorgan Chase completed the acquisition of Bank One in the third quarter of 2004. The former Bank One and First Chicago headquarters in Chicago serve as the headquarters of Chase, JPMorgan Chase's commercial and retail banking subsidiary.

At the end of 2007, Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. was the fifth largest investment bank in the United States but its market capitalization had deteriorated through the second half of 2007. On Friday, March 14, 2008, Bear Stearns lost 47% of its equity market value to close at $30.00 per share as rumors emerged that clients were withdrawing capital from the bank. Over the following weekend, it emerged that Bear Stearns might prove insolvent, and on or around March 15, 2008, the Federal Reserve engineered a deal to prevent a wider systemic crisis from the collapse of Bear Stearns.[13]

On March 16, 2008, after a weekend of intense negotiations between JPMorgan, Bear, and the federal government, JPMorgan Chase announced that it had plans to acquire Bear Stearns in a stock swap worth $2.00 per share or $240 million pending shareholder approval scheduled within 90 days. In the interim, JPMorgan Chase agreed to guarantee all Bear Stearns trades and business process flows.[14] Two days later on March 18, 2008, JPMorgan Chase formally announced the acquisition of Bear Stearns for $236 million. The stock swap agreement was signed in the late-night hours of March 18, 2008, with JPMorgan agreeing to exchange 0.05473 of each of its shares upon closure of the merger for one Bear share, valuing the Bear shares at $2 each.[15]

On March 24, 2008, after considerable public discontent by Bear Stearns shareholders over the low acquisition price threatened the deal's closure, a revised offer was announced at approximately $10 per share. Under the revised terms, JPMorgan also immediately acquired a 39.5% stake in Bear Stearns (using newly issued shares) at the new offer price and gained a commitment from the board (representing another 10% of the share capital) that its members would vote in favor of the new deal. With sufficient commitments to ensure a successful shareholder vote, the merger was completed on May 30, 2008.[16]

The Washington Mutual logo prior to its 2008 acquisition by JPMorgan Chase

On September 25, 2008, JPMorgan Chase bought most of the banking operations of Washington Mutual from the receivership of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. That night, the Office of Thrift Supervision, in what was by far the largest bank failure in American history, had seized Washington Mutual Bank and placed it into receivership. The FDIC sold the bank's assets, secured debt obligations and deposits to JPMorgan Chase & Co for $1.836 billion, which re-opened the bank the following day. As a result of the takeover, Washington Mutual shareholders lost all their equity.[17]

JPMorgan Chase raised $10 billion in a stock sale to cover writedowns and losses after taking on deposits and branches of Washington Mutual.[18] Through the acquisition, JPMorgan now owns the former accounts of Providian Financial, a credit card issuer WaMu acquired in 2005. The company announced plans to complete the rebranding of Washington Mutual branches to Chase by late 2009.

Chief executive Alan H. Fishman received a $7.5 million sign-on bonus and cash severance of $11.6 million after being CEO for 17 days.[19]

On November 19, 2013, the Justice Department announced that JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $13 billion to settle investigations into its business practices pertaining to mortgage-backed securities.[20] Of that amount, $9 billion was penalties and fines and the remaining $4 billion was consumer relief. This was the largest corporate settlement to date. Conduct at Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual prior to their 2008 acquisitions accounted for much of the alleged wrongdoing. The agreement did not settle criminal charges.[21]

In 2006, JPMorgan Chase purchased Collegiate Funding Services, a portfolio company of private equity firm Lightyear Capital, for $663 million. CFS was used as the foundation for the Chase Student Loans, previously known as Chase Education Finance.[22]

In April 2006, JPMorgan Chase acquired Bank of New York Mellon's retail and small business banking network. The acquisition gave Chase access to 339 additional branches in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.[23]

In November 2009, JPMorgan announced it would acquire the balance of JPMorgan Cazenove, an advisory and underwriting joint venture established in 2004 with the Cazenove Group, for GBP1 billion.[25]

In January 2013, JPMorgan acquired Bloomspot, a San Francisco-based startup in the "deals" space for $35 million. Shortly after the acquisition, the service was shut down and Bloomspot's talent was left unused.[26][27]

In October 2014, JPMorgan sold its commodities trader unit to Mercuria for $800 million, a quarter of the initial valuation of $3.5 billion, as the transaction excluded some oil and metal stockpiles and other assets.[37]

In September 2016, JPMorgan made an equity investment in InvestCloud.[39]

In September 2016, JPMorgan announced that they had been working on a private, permissioned version of the Ethereum network called Quorum.[40]

In December 2016, 14 former executives of the Wendel investment company faced trial for tax fraud while JP Morgan Chase was to be pursued for complicity. Jean-Bernard Lafonta was convicted last December[when?] for spreading false information and insider trading, and fined 1.5 million euros.[41]

In March 2017, Lawrence Obracanik, a former JPMorgan Chase & Co employee, pleaded guilty to criminal charges that he stole more than $5 million from his employer to pay personal debts.[42]

In June 2017, Matt Zames, the now former COO of the bank decided to leave the firm.[43]

In December 2017, JP Morgan was sued by the Nigerian government for $875 million, which Nigeria alleges was transferred by JP Morgan to a corrupt former minister.[44] Nigeria accused JP Morgan of being "grossly negligient".[45]

JPMorgan Chase[48] was the biggest bank at the end of 2008 as an individual bank (not including subsidiaries). As of 2018, JPMorgan Chase is ranked #20 on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.[49]

For the first time in 2018, a new Securities and Exchange Commission rule mandated under the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform requires publicly traded companies to disclose how their CEOs are compensated in comparison with their employees. In public filings, companies have to disclose their "Pay Ratios," or the CEO's compensation divided by the median employee's.[50] According to SEC filings, JPMorgan Chase & Co. paid its CEO $28,320,175 in 2017. The average worker employed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. was paid $77,799 in 2017; thus marking a CEO-to-worker Pay Ratio of 364 to 1.[51] As of April 2018, steelmaker Nucor represented the median CEO-to-worker Pay Ratio from SEC filings with values of 133 to 1.[52]Bloomberg BusinessWeek on May 2, 2013 found the ratio of CEO pay to the typical worker rose from about 20-to-1 in the 1950s to 120-to-1 in 2000.[53]

The company, known previously as Chase Manhattan International Limited, was founded on September 18, 1968.[56][57]

In August 2008, the bank announced plans to construct a new European headquarters at Canary Wharf, London.[58] These plans were subsequently suspended in December 2010, when the bank announced the purchase of a nearby existing office tower at 25 Bank Street for use as the European headquarters of its investment bank.[59] 25 Bank Street had originally been designated as the European headquarters of Enron and was subsequently used as the headquarters of Lehman Brothers International (Europe).

Earlier in 2011, the company announced that by the use of supercomputers, the time taken to assess risk had been greatly reduced, from arriving at a conclusion within hours to what is now minutes. The banking corporation uses for this calculation Field-Programmable Gate Array technology.[61]

The Bank began operations in Japan in 1924,[62] in Australia during the later part of the nineteenth century,[63] and in Indonesia during the early 1920s.[64] An office of the Equitable Eastern Banking Corporation (one of J.P. Morgan's predecessors) opened a branch in China in 1921 and Chase National Bank was established there in 1923.[65] The bank has operated in Saudi Arabia[66] and India[67] since the 1930s. Chase Manhattan Bank opened an office in Korea in 1967.[68] The firm's presence in Greece dates to 1968.[69] An office of JPMorgan was opened in Taiwan in 1970,[70] in Russia (Soviet Union) in 1973,[71] and Nordic operations began during the same year.[72] Operations in Poland began in 1995.[69]

JP Morgan Chase's PAC and its employees contributed $2.6 million to federal campaigns in 2014 and financed its lobbying team with $4.7 million in the first three quarters of 2014. JP Morgan's giving has been focused on Republicans, with 62 percent of its donations going to GOP recipients in 2014. Still, 78 House Democrats received campaign cash from JPMorgan's PAC in the 2014 cycle at an average of $5,200 and a total of 38 of the Democrats who voted for the 2015 spending bill took money from JPMorgan's PAC in 2014. JP Morgan Chase's PAC made maximum donations to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the leadership PACs of Steny Hoyer and Jim Himes in 2014.[73]

In December 2002, Chase paid fines totaling $80 million, with the amount split between the states and the federal government. The fines were part of a settlement involving charges that ten banks, including Chase, deceived investors with biased research. The total settlement with the ten banks was $1.4 billion. The settlement required that the banks separate investment banking from research, and ban any allocation of IPO shares.[74]

Chase paid out over $2 billion in fines and legal settlements for their role in financing Enron Corporation with aiding and abetting Enron Corp.'s securities fraud, which collapsed amid a financial scandal in 2001.[75] In 2003, Chase paid $160 million in fines and penalties to settle claims by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Manhattan district attorney's office. In 2005, Chase paid $2.2 billion to settle a lawsuit filed by investors in Enron.[76]

JPMorgan Chase, which helped underwrite $15.4 billion of WorldCom's bonds, agreed in March 2005 to pay $2 billion; that was 46 percent, or $630 million, more than it would have paid had it accepted an investor offer in May 2004 of $1.37 billion. J.P. Morgan was the last big lender to settle. Its payment is the second largest in the case, exceeded only by the $2.6 billion accord reached in 2004 by Citigroup.[77] In March 2005, 16 of WorldCom's 17 former underwriters reached settlements with the investors.[78][79]

In November 2009, JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to a $722 million settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to end a probe into sales of derivatives that helped push Alabama's most populous county to the brink of bankruptcy. The settlement came a week after Birmingham, Alabama Mayor Larry Langford was convicted on 60 counts of bribery, money laundering, and tax evasion related to bond swaps for Jefferson County, Alabama. The SEC alleged that J.P. Morgan, which had been chosen by the county commissioners to underwrite the floating-rate sewer bond deals and provide interest-rate swaps, had made undisclosed payments to close friends of the commissioners in exchange for the deal. J.P. Morgan then allegedly made up for the costs by charging higher interest rates on the swaps.[80]

In June 2010, J.P. Morgan Securities was fined a record £33.32 million ($49.12 million) by the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) for failing to protect an average of £5.5 billion of clients' money from 2002 to 2009.[81][82]
FSA requires financial firms to keep clients' funds in separate accounts to protect the clients in case such firm becomes insolvent. The firm had failed to properly segregate client funds from corporate funds following the merger of Chase and J.P. Morgan, resulting in a violation of FSA regulations but no losses to clients. The clients' funds would have been at risk had the firm become insolvent during this period.[83] J.P. Morgan Securities reported the incident to the FSA, corrected the errors, and cooperated in the ensuing investigation, resulting in the fine being reduced 30% from an original amount of £47.6 million.[82]

In January 2011, JPMorgan Chase admitted that it wrongly overcharged several thousand military families for their mortgages, including active duty personnel in Afghanistan. The bank also admitted it improperly foreclosed on more than a dozen military families; both actions were in clear violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act which automatically lowers mortgage rates to 6 percent, and bars foreclosure proceedings of active duty personnel. The overcharges may have never come to light were it not for legal action taken by Captain Jonathan Rowles. Both Captain Rowles and his spouse Julia accused Chase of violating the law and harassing the couple for nonpayment. An official stated that the situation was "grim" and Chase initially stated it would be refunding up to $2,000,000 to those who were overcharge, and that families improperly foreclosed on have gotten or will get their homes back.[84] Chase has acknowledged that as many as 6,000 active duty military personnel were illegally overcharged, and more than 18 military families homes were wrongly foreclosed. In April, Chase agreed to pay a total of $27 million in compensation to settle the class-action suit.[85] At the company's 2011 shareholders' meeting, Dimon apologized for the error and said the bank would forgive the loans of any active-duty personnel whose property had been foreclosed. In June 2011, lending chief Dave Lowman was forced out over the scandal.[86][87]

In 2008 and 2009, 14 lawsuits were filed against JPMorgan Chase in various district courts on behalf of Chase credit card holders claiming the bank violated the Truth in Lending Act, breached its contract with the consumers and committed a breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. The consumers contended that Chase, with little or no notice, increased minimum monthly payments from 2% to 5% on loan balances that were transferred to consumers' credit cards based on the promise of a fixed interest rate. In May 2011, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California certified the class action lawsuit. On July 23, 2012, Chase agreed to pay $100 million to settle the claim.[88]

In July 2013, The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved a stipulation and consent agreement under which JPMorgan Ventures Energy Corporation (JPMVEC), a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Co., agreed to pay $410 million in penalties and disgorgement to ratepayers for allegations of market manipulation stemming from the company's bidding activities in electricity markets in California and the Midwest from September 2010 through November 2012. JPMVEC agreed to pay a civil penalty of $285 million to the U.S. Treasury and to disgorge $125 million in unjust profits. JPMVEC admitted the facts set forth in the agreement, but neither admitted nor denied the violations.[89]

The case stemmed from multiple referrals to FERC from market monitors in 2011 and 2012 regarding JPMVEC's bidding practices. FERC investigators determined that JPMVEC engaged in 12 manipulative bidding strategies designed to make profits from power plants that were usually out of the money in the marketplace. In each of them, the company made bids designed to create artificial conditions that forced California and Midcontinent Independent System Operators (ISOs) to pay JPMVEC outside the market at premium rates.[89]

FERC investigators further determined that JPMVEC knew that the California ISO and Midcontinent ISO received no benefit from making inflated payments to the company, thereby defrauding the ISOs by obtaining payments for benefits that the company did not deliver beyond the routine provision of energy. FERC investigators also determined that JPMVEC's bids displaced other generation and altered day ahead and real-time prices from the prices that would have resulted had the company not submitted the bids.[89]

Under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Congress directed FERC to detect, prevent and appropriately sanction the gaming of energy markets. According to FERC, the Commission approved the settlement as in the public interest.[89]

FERC's investigation of energy market manipulations led to a subsequent investigation into possible obstruction of justice by employees of JPMorgan Chase.[90] Various newspapers reported in September 2013 that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and US Attorney's Office in Manhattan were investigating whether employees withheld information or made false statements during the FERC investigation.[90] The reported impetus for the investigation was a letter from Massachusetts Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey, in which they asked FERC why no action was taken against people who impeded the FERC investigation.[90] At the time of the FBI investigation, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations was also looking into whether JPMorgan Chase employees impeded the FERC investigation.[90]Reuters reported that JPMorgan Chase was facing over a dozen investigations at the time.[90]

On August 25, 2011, JPMorgan Chase agreed to settle fines with regard to violations of the sanctions under the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) regime. The U.S. Department of Treasury released the following civil penalties information under the heading: "JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. Settles Apparent Violations of Multiple Sanctions Programs":

On February 9, 2012, it was announced that the five largest mortgage servicers (Ally/GMAC, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo) agreed to a historic settlement with the federal government and 49 states.[92] The settlement, known as the National Mortgage Settlement (NMS), required the servicers to provide about $26 billion in relief to distressed homeowners and in direct payments to the states and federal government. This settlement amount makes the NMS the second largest civil settlement in U.S. history, only trailing the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.[93] The five banks were also required to comply with 305 new mortgage servicing standards. Oklahoma held out and agreed to settle with the banks separately.

In November 2016, JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $264 million in fines to settle civil and criminal charges involving a systematic bribery scheme spanning 2006 to 2013 in which the bank secured business deals in Hong Kong by agreeing to hire hundreds of friends and relatives of Chinese government officials, resulting in more than $100 million in revenue for the bank.[96]

Bernie Madoff opened a business account at Chemical Bank in 1986 and maintained it until 2008, long after Chemical acquired Chase.

In 2010, Irving Picard, the SIPC receiver appointed to liquidate Madoff's company, alleged that JPMorgan failed to prevent Madoff from defrauding his customers. According to the suit, Chase "knew or should have known" that Madoff's wealth management business was a fraud. However, Chase did not report its concerns to regulators or law enforcement until October 2008, when it notified the UK Serious Organised Crime Agency. Picard argued that even after Morgan investment bankers reported its concerns about Madoff's performance to UK officials, Chase's retail banking division did not put any restrictions on Madoff's banking activities until his arrest two months later.[97] The receiver's suit against J.P. Morgan was dismissed by the Court for failing to set forth any legally cognizable claim for damages.[98]

In the fall of 2013, JPMorgan began talks with prosecutors and regulators regarding compliance with anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer banking regulations in connection with Madoff.

On January 7, 2014, JPMorgan agreed to pay a total of $2.05 billion in fines and penalties to settle civil and criminal charges related to its role in the Madoff scandal. The government filed a two-count criminal information charging JPMorgan with Bank Secrecy Act violations, but the charges will be dismissed within two years provided that JPMorgan reforms its anti-money laundering procedures and cooperates with the government in its investigation. The bank agreed to forfeit $1.7 billion.

The lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of shareholders against Chief Executive Jamie Dimon and other high-ranking JPMorgan employees, used statements made by Bernie Madoff during interviews conducted while in prison in Butner, North Carolina claiming that JPMorgan officials knew of the fraud. The lawsuit stated that, "JPMorgan was uniquely positioned for 20 years to see Madoff's crimes and put a stop to them ... But faced with the prospect of shutting down Madoff's account and losing lucrative profits, JPMorgan - at its highest level - chose to turn a blind eye." [99]

JPMorgan also agreed to pay a $350 million fine to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and settle the suit filed against it by Picard for $543 million.[100][101][102][103]

A cyber-attack, disclosed in September 2014, compromised the JPMorgan Chase accounts of over 83 million customers. The attack was discovered by the bank's security team in late July 2014, but not completely halted until the middle of August.[105][106]

Although the old Chase Manhattan Bank's headquarters were located at One Chase Manhattan Plaza (now known as 28 Liberty Street) in downtown Manhattan, the current world headquarters for JPMorgan Chase & Co. are located at 270 Park Avenue, Chemical Bank's former headquarters. In 2018, JPMorgan announced they would demolish the current building on site at 270 Park Avenue to make way for a newer building that will be 500 feet (150 m) taller than the existing building. Demolition is expected to begin in early 2019, and the new building will be completed in 2024. The replacement 70-story headquarters will be able to fit 15,000 employees, whereas the current building fits 6,000 employees in a space that has a capacity of 3,500. The new headquarters is part of the East Midtown rezoning plan.[110]

The bulk of North American operations take place in four buildings located adjacent to each other on Park Avenue in New York City: the former Union Carbide Building at 270 Park Avenue, the hub of sales and trading operations, and the original Chemical Bank building at 277 Park Avenue, where most investment banking activity took place. Asset and wealth management groups are located at 245 Park Avenue and 345 Park Avenue. Other groups are located in the former Bear Stearns building at 383 Madison Avenue.

In April 2012, hedge fund insiders became aware that the market in credit default swaps was possibly being affected by the activities of Bruno Iksil, a trader for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., referred to as "the London whale" in reference to the huge positions he was taking. Heavy opposing bets to his positions are known to have been made by traders, including another branch of J.P. Morgan, who purchased the derivatives offered by J.P. Morgan in such high volume.[117][118] Early reports were denied and minimized by the firm in an attempt to minimize exposure.[119] Major losses, $2 billion, were reported by the firm in May 2012, in relation to these trades and updated to $4.4 billion on July 13, 2012.[120] The disclosure, which resulted in headlines in the media, did not disclose the exact nature of the trading involved, which remains in progress and as of June 28, 2012, was continuing to produce losses which could total as much as $9 billion under worst-case scenarios.[121][122] The item traded, possibly related to CDX IG 9, an index based on the default risk of major U.S. corporations,[123][124] has been described as a "derivative of a derivative".[125][126] On the company's emergency conference call, JPMorgan Chase Chairman, CEO and President Jamie Dimon said the strategy was "flawed, complex, poorly reviewed, poorly executed, and poorly monitored".[127] The episode is being investigated by the Federal Reserve, the SEC, and the FBI.[128]

On September 18, 2013, JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay a total of $920 million in fines and penalties to American and UK regulators for violations related to the trading loss and other incidents. The fine was part of a multiagency and multinational settlement with the Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States and the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. The company also admitted breaking American securities law.[130] The fines amounted to the third biggest banking fine levied by US regulators, and the second largest by UK authorities.[129] As of September 19, 2013[update], two traders face criminal proceedings.[129] It is also the first time in several years that a major American financial institution has publicly admitted breaking the securities laws.[131]

A report by the SEC was critical of the level of oversight from senior management on traders, and the FCA said the incident demonstrated "flaws permeating all levels of the firm: from portfolio level right up to senior management."[129]

On the day of the fine, the BBC reported from the New York Stock Exchange that the fines "barely registered" with traders there, the news having been an expected development and the company having prepared for the financial hit.[129]

The collection was begun in 1959 by David Rockefeller,[132] and comprises over 30,000 objects, of which over 6,000 are photographic-based,[133] as of 2012 containing more than one hundred works by Middle Eastern and North African artists.[134] The One Chase Manhattan Plaza building was the original location at the start of collection by the Chase Manhattan Bank, the current collection containing both this and also those works that the First National Bank of Chicago had acquired prior to assimilation into the JPMorgan Chase organization.[135] L. K. Erf has been the director of acquisitions of works since 2004 for the bank,[136] whose art program staff is completed by an additional three full-time members and one registrar.[137] The advisory committee at the time of the Rockefeller initiation included A. H. Barr, and D. Miller, and also J. J. Sweeney, R. Hale, P. Rathbone and G. Bunshaft.[138]

The JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge, owned and operated by JPMorgan Chase, is the largest corporate road racing series in the world with over 200,000 participants in 12 cities in six countries on five continents. It has been held annually since 1977 and the races range in size from 4,000 entrants to more than 60,000.

Jamie Dimon is the Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase. The acquisition deal of Bank One in 2004, was designed in part to recruit Dimon to JPMorgan Chase. He became chief executive at the end of 2005.[139] Dimon has been recognized for his leadership during the 2008 financial crisis.[140] Under his leadership, JPMorgan Chase rescued two ailing banks during the crisis.[141] Although Dimon has publicly criticized the American government's strict immigration policies,[142] as of July 2018, his company has $1.6 million worth of stocks in Sterling Construction (the company contracted to build a massive wall on the U.S.-Mexico border).[143]

1.
Chase Bank
–
The bank was known as Chase Manhattan Bank until it merged with J. P. Morgan & Co. in 2000. Chase Manhattan Bank was formed by the merger of the Chase National Bank, the bank has been headquartered in Columbus, Ohio since its merger with Bank One Corporation in 2004. The bank acquired the deposits and most assets of Washington Mutual, Chase offers more than 5,100 branches and 16,100 ATMs nationwide. JPMorgan Chase has 250,355 employees and operates in more than 100 countries, JPMorgan Chase currently has assets of roughly US$2.49 trillion. JPMorgan Chase, through its Chase subsidiary, is one of the Big Four banks of the United States. From September 1,1799, to 1955, it was called The Bank of The Manhattan Company, Chase National Bank was formed in 1877 by John Thompson. It was named after former United States Treasury Secretary and Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, the Chase National Bank acquired a number of smaller banks in the 1920s, through its Chase Securities Corporation. In 1926, for instance, it acquired Mechanics and Metals National Bank, however, its most significant acquisition was the Equitable Trust Company of New York in 1930, the largest stockholder of which was John D. Rockefeller, Jr. This made Chase the largest bank in America and indeed, in the world, in 1955, Chase National Bank and The Manhattan Company merged to create The Chase Manhattan Bank. The deal was structured as an acquisition by the Bank of the Manhattan Company of Chase National. This avoided the need for consent by shareholders. For Chase Manhattan Banks new logo, Chermayeff & Geismar designed a stylized octagon in 1961, the Chase logo is a stylized representation of the primitive water pipes laid by the Manhattan Company, which were made by nailing together wooden planks. The bank included a management business called the Chase Investors Management Corporation. Under McCloys successor, George Champion, the bank relinquished its antiquated 1799 state charter for a modern one, in 1969, under the leadership of David Rockefeller, the bank became part of a bank holding company, the Chase Manhattan Corporation. In July 1996, Chemical Bank of New York purchased Chase Manhattan Bank, chemicals previous acquisitions included Manufacturers Hanover Corporation, in 1991, and Texas Commerce Bank, in 1987. Although Chemical was the survivor, the merged company retained the Chase name since it was better known. In December 2000, the combined Chase Manhattan completed the acquisition of J. P. Morgan & Co. in one of the largest banking mergers to date, the combined company was renamed JPMorgan Chase. In 2004, the bank acquired Bank One, making Chase the largest credit card issuer in the United States, JPMorgan Chase added Bear Stearns & Co. and Washington Mutual to its acquisitions in 2008 and 2009 respectively

2.
Headquarters
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Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility for managing all business activities, in the UK, the term head office is most commonly used for the HQs of large corporations. The term is also used regarding military organizations, a headquarters is the entity at the top of a corporation that takes full responsibility for the overall success of the corporation, and ensures corporate governance. Many companies have an office at a different address to their corporate office. A headquarters normally includes the leader of business unit and his or her staff as well as all functions to manage the business unit, the head of the business unit is responsible for overall result of the business unit. Military headquarters take many forms depending on the size and nature of the unit or formation they command, typically, they are split into the forward, main and rear components, both within NATO nations, and those following the organization and doctrine of the former Soviet Union. The forward or tactical HQs is a group of staff. The main HQs is less mobile and is involved in both the planning and execution of operations, there are a number of staff assembled here from various staff branches to advise the commander, and to control the various aspects of planning and the conduct of discrete operations. A main HQ for a large formation will have a chief of staff who coordinates the staff effort, the rear or logistic HQs is some distance from the battle or front line in conventional operations. The headquarters of the Catholic Church is Vatican City, the headquarters of the Russian Orthodox Church is in Danilov Monastery, Moscow. The World Council of Churches, including Orthodox Churches, has its headquarters in Geneva, the headquarters of Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is located in Istanbul, Turkey. The headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is located in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Anglican Communion Office is in London. In Japanese budō martial arts such as karate, judo, aikido, kendo, there is usually a headquarters for each organization or region. The Japanese word honbu is generally used for that, also outside Japan, sometimes they refer to this headquarters as honbu dojo in which dojo is a facility provided for practicing discipline, the training ground. Sometimes honbu is written as hombu, the way it is pronounced, but according to the Hepburn transcription, weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army Janes, London,516 pp. Wanner, Herbert Global and regional corporate headquarters in, Kählin, Christian, H. Switzerland Business & Investment Handbook, Orell Füssli and Wiley, Wanner, Herbert, LeClef, Xavier, & Shimizu, Hiroshi Global Headquarters on the Move, From Administrators to Facilitators Prims Second Semester 2004, Arthur D. Little

3.
Midtown Manhattan
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Midtown Manhattan, or Midtown, represents the central lengthwise portion of the borough and island of Manhattan in New York City. Along Manhattans north-south long axis, Midtown Manhattan separates Lower Manhattan from Upper Manhattan, the majority of New York Citys skyscrapers, including its tallest hotels and apartment towers, lie within Midtown. Midtown spans the island of Manhattan along an east-west axis, being bounded by the East River on its east. The Encyclopedia of New York City defines Midtown as being from 34th Street to 59th Street and it is sometimes broken into Midtown East and Midtown West, or north and south as in the New York City Police Departments Midtown North and Midtown South precincts. Midtown South can refer to the part of Midtown between 23rd Street and around 42nd Street, Midtown West can refer to the area between 34th and 59th Streets, and between 5th and 12th Avenues. Midtown East can refer to the area between 42nd and 59th Streets, and between 5th Avenue and the East River, in other sources these districts are referred to as separate central business districts. Midtown Manhattan, along with Lower Manhattan, is one of the leading financial centers. Midtown Manhattan is the countrys largest central business district and it has the headquarters of major companies, including 4Kids Entertainment, Barnes & Noble, Bloomberg L. P. The New York Institute of Finance is located in Midtown Manhattan, Haier operates its United States offices in the Haier Building at 1356 Broadway, the building used to be a building of the Greenwich Savings Bank. Haier held the ceremony on March 4,2002. Sumitomo Corporation operates its New York Office, the headquarters of the corporations United States operations, el Als North American headquarters are in Midtown. The Air France USA regional headquarters are in 125 West 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan, hachette Book Group USA has its headquarters in 237 Park Avenue. In 1994 Alitalia considered moving its USA headquarters from Midtown to Lower Manhattan, global Infrastructure Partners has an office in Midtown Manhattan. Biotechnology is emerging in Midtown Manhattan, bolstered by the strength in academic scientific research and public. Aer Lingus had its United States offices in Midtown, in 1997, Aer Lingus announced that it was moving its North American headquarters to Melville, New York, in Suffolk County. New York City Department of Education public schools in Midtown Manhattan include Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School, private schools include The Beekman School, Rebecca School, and a number of private language and music centers. The La Scuola dItalia Guglielmo Marconi Italian international school will move to West Midtown in 2016, in addition to its well-known Main Branch research library—now known as the Stephen A. Pennsylvania Station and Grand Central Terminal are major railroad stations located in Midtown Manhattan, the Port Authority Bus Terminal is also in Midtown

4.
New York Stock Exchange
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The New York Stock Exchange, is an American stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street, Lower Manhattan, New York City, New York. It is by far the worlds largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its companies at US$19.3 trillion as of June 2016. The average daily trading value was approximately US$169 billion in 2013, the NYSE trading floor is located at 11 Wall Street and is composed of 21 rooms used for the facilitation of trading. A fifth trading room, located at 30 Broad Street, was closed in February 2007, the main building and the 11 Wall Street building were designated National Historic Landmarks in 1978. The NYSE is owned by Intercontinental Exchange, an American holding company that it also lists, previously, it was part of NYSE Euronext, which was formed by the NYSEs 2007 merger with Euronext. NYSE and Euronext now operate as divisions of Intercontinental Exchange, the NYSE has been the subject of several lawsuits regarding fraud or breach of duty and in 2004 was sued by its former CEO for breach of contract and defamation. The earliest recorded organization of securities trading in New York among brokers directly dealing with each other can be traced to the Buttonwood Agreement, previously securities exchange had been intermediated by the auctioneers who also conducted more mundane auctions of commodities such as wheat and tobacco. In 1817 the stockbrokers of New York operating under the Buttonwood Agreement instituted new reforms, after sending a delegation to Philadelphia to observe the organization of their board of brokers, restrictions on manipulative trading were adopted as well as formal organs of governance. Several locations were used between 1817 and 1865, when the present location was adopted, the invention of the electrical telegraph consolidated markets, and New Yorks market rose to dominance over Philadelphia after weathering some market panics better than other alternatives. The Civil War greatly stimulated speculative securities trading in New York, by 1869 membership had to be capped, and has been sporadically increased since. The latter half of the century saw rapid growth in securities trading. Securities trade in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was prone to panics. The Stock Exchange Luncheon Club was situated on the floor from 1898 until its closure in 2006. The main building, located at 18 Broad Street, between the corners of Wall Street and Exchange Place, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978, as was the 11 Wall Street building. The NYSE announced its plans to merge with Archipelago on April 21,2005, NYSEs governing board voted to merge with rival Archipelago on December 6,2005, and became a for-profit, public company. It began trading under the name NYSE Group on March 8,2006, Wall Street is the leading US money center for international financial activities and the foremost US location for the conduct of wholesale financial services. It comprises a matrix of wholesale financial sectors, financial markets, financial institutions, the principal sectors are securities industry, commercial banking, asset management, and insurance. Prior to the acquisition of NYSE Euronext by the ICE in 2013, Marsh Carter was the Chairman of the NYSE, presently, the chairman is Jeffrey Sprecher

5.
J. P. Morgan
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John Pierpont J. P. Morgan was an American financier and banker who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation in late 19th and early 20th Century United States. In 1892, Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and he was instrumental in the creation of the United States Steel Corporation, International Harvester and AT&T. He directed the banking coalition that stopped the Panic of 1907 and he was the leading financier of the Progressive Era, and his dedication to efficiency and modernization helped transform American business. Morgan has been described as America’s greatest banker, Morgan died in Rome, Italy, in his sleep in 1913 at the age of 75, leaving his fortune and business to his son, John Pierpont Morgan, Jr. His fortune was estimated at only US$80 million, prompting John D. Rockefeller to say, Morgan was born into the influential Morgan family in Hartford, Connecticut, and was raised there. He was the son of Junius Spencer Morgan and Juliet Pierpont, Pierpont, as he preferred to be known, had a varied education due in part to the plans of his father. In the fall of 1848, Pierpont transferred to the Hartford Public School and then to the Episcopal Academy in Cheshire, Connecticut, boarding with the principal. In September 1851, Morgan passed the exam for The English High School of Boston. In the spring of 1852, an illness struck which was to more common as his life progressed. Rheumatic fever left him in so much pain that he could not walk and he convalesced there for almost a year, then returned to the English High School in Boston to resume his studies. After he graduated, his father sent him to Bellerive, a school near the Swiss village of Vevey and his father then sent him to the University of Göttingen in order to improve his German. He attained a level of German within six months and also a degree in art history, then traveled back to London via Wiesbaden. Morgan went into banking in 1857 at the London branch of merchant banking firm Peabody, in 1858, he moved to New York City to join the banking house of Duncan, Sherman & Company, the American representatives of George Peabody and Company. Morgan had avoided serving during the war by paying a substitute $300 to take his place, from 1860 to 1864, as J. Pierpont Morgan & Company, he acted as agent in New York for his fathers firm, renamed J. S. Morgan & Co. upon Peabodys retirement in 1864, from 1864–72, he was a member of the firm of Dabney, Morgan, and Company. In 1871, he partnered with the Drexels of Philadelphia to form the New York firm of Drexel, at that time, Anthony J. Drexel became Pierponts mentor at the request of Junius Morgan. After the death of Anthony Drexel, the firm was rechristened J. P. Morgan & Company in 1895, retaining close ties with Drexel & Company of Philadelphia, Morgan, Harjes & Company of Paris, and J. S. By 1900, it was one of the most powerful banking houses of the world, Morgan had many partners over the years, such as George W. Perkins, but always remained firmly in charge

6.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange

7.
New York (state)
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New York is a state in the northeastern United States, and is the 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated U. S. state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. With an estimated population of 8.55 million in 2015, New York City is the most populous city in the United States, the New York Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State, two-thirds of the states population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% lives on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th-century Duke of York, the next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany. New York has a diverse geography and these more mountainous regions are bisected by two major river valleys—the north-south Hudson River Valley and the east-west Mohawk River Valley, which forms the core of the Erie Canal. Western New York is considered part of the Great Lakes Region and straddles Lake Ontario, between the two lakes lies Niagara Falls. The central part of the state is dominated by the Finger Lakes, New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time the earliest Europeans came to New York. The first Europeans to arrive were French colonists and Jesuit missionaries who arrived southward from settlements at Montreal for trade, the British annexed the colony from the Dutch in 1664. The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were similar to those of the present-day state, New York is home to the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. On April 17,1524 Verrazanno entered New York Bay, by way of the now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita. Verrazzano described it as a vast coastline with a delta in which every kind of ship could pass and he adds. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats and he landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazannos stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Marthas Vineyard, in 1540 French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany, due to flooding, it was abandoned the next year. In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse, located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617, and abandoned for good after Fort Orange was built nearby in 1623. Henry Hudsons 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement with the area, sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year

8.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci

9.
Bond (finance)
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In finance, a bond is an instrument of indebtedness of the bond issuer to the holders. The most common types of bonds include municipal bonds and corporate bonds, interest is usually payable at fixed intervals. Very often the bond is negotiable, that is, the ownership of the instrument can be transferred in the secondary market and this means that once the transfer agents at the bank medallion stamp the bond, it is highly liquid on the second market. Thus, a bond is a form of loan or IOU, the holder of the bond is the lender, the issuer of the bond is the borrower, and the coupon is the interest. Bonds provide the borrower with funds to finance long-term investments, or, in the case of government bonds. Certificates of deposit or short term commercial paper are considered to be money market instruments and not bonds, the main difference is in the length of the term of the instrument. Bonds and stocks are both securities, but the difference between the two is that stockholders have an equity stake in the company, whereas bondholders have a creditor stake in the company. Being a creditor, bondholders have priority over stockholders and this means they will be repaid in advance of stockholders, but will rank behind secured creditors in the event of bankruptcy. Another difference is that usually have a defined term, or maturity, after which the bond is redeemed. An exception is a bond, such as a consol, which is a perpetuity, that is. Bonds are issued by authorities, credit institutions, companies. The most common process for issuing bonds is through underwriting, when a bond issue is underwritten, one or more securities firms or banks, forming a syndicate, buy the entire issue of bonds from the issuer and re-sell them to investors. The security firm takes the risk of being unable to sell on the issue to end investors. Primary issuance is arranged by bookrunners who arrange the bond issue, have contact with investors and act as advisers to the bond issuer in terms of timing. The bookrunner is listed first among all participating in the issuance in the tombstone ads commonly used to announce bonds to the public. The bookrunners willingness to underwrite must be discussed prior to any decision on the terms of the issue as there may be limited demand for the bonds. In contrast, government bonds are issued in an auction. In some cases, both members of the public and banks may bid for bonds, in other cases, only market makers may bid for bonds

A capital market is a financial market in which long-term debt or equity-backed securities are bought and sold. Capital …

The trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, one of the largest secondary capital markets in the world. As of 2013, most of the NYSE's trades are executed electronically, but its hybrid structure allows some trading to be done face to face on the floor.

A credit default swap (CDS) is a financial swap agreement that the seller of the CDS will compensate the buyer (usually …

If the reference bond performs without default, the protection buyer pays quarterly payments to the seller until maturity

If the reference bond defaults, the protection seller pays par value of the bond to the buyer, and the buyer transfers ownership of the bond to the seller

Composition of the United States 15.5 trillion US dollar CDS market at the end of 2008 Q2. Green tints show Prime asset CDSs, reddish tints show sub-prime asset CDSs. Numbers followed by "Y" indicate years until maturity.

Proportion of CDSs nominals (lower left) held by United States banks compared to all derivatives, in 2008Q2. The black disc represents the 2008 public debt.

Private equity typically refers to investment funds organized as limited partnerships that are not publicly traded and …

Diagram of the basic structure of a generic leveraged buyout transaction

Diagram of the structure of a generic private equity fund

Diagram of a simple secondary market transfer of a limited partnership fund interest. The buyer exchanges a single cash payment to the seller for both the investments in the fund plus any unfunded commitments to the fund.